Jason in the Ghost Zone 2: Older and Wiser?
by Shauds02
Summary: It took a long time, but now Jason's found his way back to the gang at Amity. The stage is set with both old and new enemies eager for a piece of them. Have our heroes grown wiser or have the years merely placed a heavy burden on their young shoulders? They'll have to figure it out fast if they want to survive.
1. New Beginnings

A sleek, oblong vehicle resembling a submarine moved steadily through a world flooded in rainbow light packed so densely it might as well have been water. The soft, trilling sounds that penetrated the thick metallic helm called to mind a distant echo of sleigh bells and flutes that synchronized so perfectly it was hard to believe there was no one conducting the strange orchestra. At least, no one that they knew of.

If one was too quiet, they might just catch the eerie shadow of the billions upon billions of voices that floated through the supposedly dead world. The monotonous humming and occasional beep of the vehicles systems blocked made hearing those shadows almost impossible most of the time.

Unfortunately, most times was only when one or both of the two-man crew were actually using those systems, making for many a sleepless night. Well, for one of the crew at least.

"You told me the creepiness gets easier." A dark haired boy accused, his tired face pressed against a window to take in the lightshow.

"Did for me." The young man at the controls took a bite from the rosy apple in his free hand.

"Cause you're the perfect measuring stick for these things, Jason." The boy navigated around the machinery to plop down into the padded seat next to his self-proclaimed older brother.

"This from My-best-friend's-a-space-alien." Jason scoffed. "No one forced you to tag along."

"Clone of a space alien." Tim retorted, a frown on his face that made him look more put upon than he really was. "And you literally dragged me out of bed." He reached into a cabinet under his seat to retrieve a brightly colored energy drink; he downed half the thing in one go, despite the way his face screwed up at the taste. "I hate these things."

"So have coffee." Jason plucked the drink out of Tim's hand and took a swig. When he got neither a complaint nor the prickling at the back of his neck that suggested a heated glare, he turned his own frown on the younger boy. "What did you do with the coffee Tim?" Silence was all the answer he needed, and he let out a groan that was somewhere between tired and exasperated.

"I didn't know we'd be here for four days." Tim snatched back the can and finished it off.

"We'll restock when we get there." Jason kept his eyes focused on the endless expanse ahead of them. There was a familiar zing in his bones, stronger and more natural than he'd felt in years, and there was more than one reason loosing it again was not an option.

His co-pilot fished out another energy drink and sipped it slowly, his eyes drooping shut despite the rush of caffeine. Grouchy, sleep deprived Tim was leagues better than the one he'd have to face if he ended up going home, so Jason let himself smile and enjoy the moment.

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.

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"Danny! You can't be late for your orientation!" Jazz's voice was even shriller to Danny's ears than the screaming of the ghost he'd been up all night fighting.

The teenaged hero grumbled and stuffed his head under his pillow, forcing down his guilt at ignoring the sister who'd traveled miles just to take part in his first 'unofficial' day of college. Orientation wasn't mandatory anyway.

Her voice faded away and he sighed blissfully into his sheets, partly tucking his head under his pillow. As far as he was concerned the extra credit could go the way of the dinosaurs while he slept on.

Just when he was begging to doze off the loud thumps of angered footsteps began booming up the stairs. For a second he considered going intangible and falling under his bed to avoid the hassle of getting up, but his common sense won out.

He'd just pulled himself into a semi-upright position when his cell began playing an obnoxious jingle that could mean one of two things: Tucker either 'really' wanted him at school one time, or there was an emergency. Danny, in all his boundless optimism was sincerely hoping for the latter.

"Tuck?" He answered just thumping stopped outside his bedroom door.

The door creaked open, revealing Jazz peeking out from behind a bewildered Jack Fenton.

"See Jazzypants, I told you he'd be up and ready before we knew it." He boomed, puffing out his chest pridefully.

Jazz, however sighed and shut the door on the empty room. Danny never moved that fast unless he needed to, and she wasn't sure a college orientation would cut it.

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.

.

"These readings have been off the scales since last night." Tucker's fingers flew across his keypad in a blur, his glasses reflecting row upon row of the gibberish that flashed across the screen.

"Come on, we couldn't have dealt with this then?" Danny frowned, leaning across his friends oversized chair to peer at the screen. "How long is this gonna take?"

"Too long." Tucker smirked. "Start thinking up your cover story now."

Danny sighed, and with a small shake of his head pulled out the grand children of the communicators they'd used years ago. If he had to suffer, it was his job as leader to make sure the rest of the team did too.

Sam, Dani, and – surprisingly – Valery showed up within minutes, all looking about as grumpy as he was about being there.

"What is it?" Sam asked, the tinted violet shades that hid half her face failing to completely hide irate tilt of her eyebrows as she accepted a bagel from the tiny ghost that poofed into the room.

"Jazz is about ready to chew your head off, so it better be good." Dani, flew across the room, setting down on Tucker's desk with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Tucker." Danny said, shooting a questioning look at Valery, who just shrugged and set her hands on her hips.

"You said everyone." The Red Huntress said.

"I can't tell you what this is, but I can tell you it's not supposed to be here." He spun in his chair to swipe a disk from the other end of his crescent work desk. A few seconds after inserting the disk, dozens of maps replaced the digits scrolling across his screen. "Aw man." The boy groaned. "Something that big, you just know it's not gonna be friendly."

"We'll deal." Danny said, injecting all of his confidence into his voice. "Can you find where exactly it's gonna show."

"Here if the new guidance system works." Tucker said, shooting a look at Danny out the corner of his eye that told him his friend wasn't as sure of that as he should have been. "I'm not sure this thing is even a ghost portal."

"So you wanna bring the freaky monster to the million dollar headquarters we just got?" Valery asked with a disbelieving frown, one of her eyebrows disappearing behind her short bangs.

"Better than in the middle of the city." Sam didn't look at the other girl as she spoke, her gaze fixed on the three prongs dangling from the ceiling.

"Yeah well if you're payin' for it." Valery huffed.

"Hey look!" Dani pointed at the prongs, hopping off the desk to stand at the ready, her eyes gleaming.

It took the others a second to pick up on what had her so exited, but once they did it was all hands on deck.

Sam stroked the jagged beads of her bracelet, as a small army of ghost poffs appeared, and Valery pulled the oversized ecto-cannon off her back.

Tucker muttered something unintelligible, and his frantic hands moved even faster. Danny would have almost thought his friend was just mashing keys randomly if not for the concentrated from on the other boy's face.

The little pinprick of red grew while team phantom stood at the ready.

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.

.

"I was asleep for ten minutes!" Jason yelled, trying in vain to stabilize their out of control vehicle.

"If you hadn't been in such a hurry we wouldn't have slept at all!" Tim countered, tapping away at the navigation console in hopes of finding source of their apparent malfunctions.

Jason refrained from commenting on how not everyone could subsist solely on coffee and gripped his arms rest for second when a particularly strong bout of shaking almost had him thrown from his seat. Tim rolled his eyes at his brother's unclasped seatbelt and turned back to his screen.

Jason cursed and slipped his crimson helmet over his head. The colors ahead of them darkened, some morphing into an ugly brackish tinge with red quickly becoming dominant.

"Damnit! This is what I get for taking you with me." Jason held the controls tightly, applying all his strength to keeping the vehicle from barrel rolling.

"The one time I actually wanted to stay home. I told you something was wrong!" Tim tossed the screen aside and leaped from his seat to inspect the systems manually in the face of the diagnostic's contradictory data.

Behind his helmet, Jason shot an uneasy glance at the younger boy, but got over it a shake of his head later. _'Not worrying about that.'_

He gritted his teeth, tightening his hold on the controls and praying with every fiber in his freaking body that they wouldn't snap in half under his grip. His eyes studied the formation of dark colors ahead of him and he let out the stream of vulgar not-Alfred-approved curses he's been saving for a special occasion.

"Get in your seat Babybird." He called over his shoulder. "Nothing you can do." He'd learned the hard way that there was no getting out of a hole like that once it had you.

Tim looked back at the wires like they'd failed him and got back into his seat. Before he was able to clip it in Jason lost his battle with the steering and both of them were tossed headfirst into the console.

The smattering of colors ahead of them morphed into a swirling red vortex. Jason held on to the steering wheel with one arm, encircling Tim with the other to keep them mostly in place during the vehicle's attempt at emulating Nightwing's performance across the trapeze.

They were slurped into the vortex and barreled out the other side, crashing into something with enough force to knock all their viewing screen's offline. For a few seconds the only sounds were the cracking of damaged equipment and their own heavy breathing.

Tim opened his mouth as if to speak, but decided that his scowl in the weak emergency lighting was telling enough.

"I miss when you were tiny and remembered how awesome I am." Jason took a deep, steadying breath before disentangling himself from the smaller boy.

"You sound like Dick." Tim huffed, barely on his feet before he fell into his chair.

"Tch." Jason motioned for him to stay down before stepping up the ladder to the ceiling catch. He at least had a chance of survival if there was something out there waiting to chomp down on his head. Half the vehicle opened up and blinked a few times to make sure the world outside wasn't a hallucination brought on by the concussion he was pretty sure he had.

The scene never shifted though, and he took a second to contain the swelling in his chest and force down that goofy smile before his pulled of his helmet. The traitorous curving of his mouth returned full force as soon as he caught the recognition in their eyes.

"Long time no see Boss." He reached a hand into the ship, closing it around Tim's and tugged him into view, wrapping an arm around the confused boy's shoulders and pulling him close. The gesture was partly to show Tim it was okay and partly to have a physical weight grounding him as proof that this was reality.

"This is my little brother, Red Robin."


	2. Larry

"Red?" Danny's incredulous voice cut through the abrupt silence that followed the other's greeting.

"What, how…?" Tucker'd pushed off his glasses and he looked torn between jumping from his seat or hiding behind it.

Valery crossed the room in seconds, crashing into Red with enough force to slam him back into the hull of his ship with a grunt of pain. The new boy, Red Robin backed away slowly with his arms raised while Valery wrapped her arms tightly around his brother and the bright red helmet dropped to the ground.

"Hi there Val." Red said, gently disentangling himself from her embrace to pick the helmet. He frowned briefly at some scuffmarks before turning back to her. "I guess I'm back, huh?"

Danny felt an invisible wall crumble in front of his and marched over to the ship, he was seconds behind Sam, who cupped Red's head in her hands to scrutinize his older face. Tucker didn't bother, pulling Red into a rough one armed hug and slammed a hand onto his back.

"I can't believe, man I was starting to think you were never coming back." Danny stopped feet away from the cluster his team had made around their lost friend, after a moment's hesitation he pulled back a fist and punched Red's shoulder. "What the heck took you so long?"

Red chuckled and rubbed his shoulder, with a small grimace. "The Nether's an ass is what."

"Nethers?" Danny asked, the same time Tucker pulled away and laid his hands on the ship appreciatively.

"Forget that, what is this?" The geek asked, spreading his hands in a grand gesture.

"The Vehicle." Red Robin squeezed through the group to stand at his brother's side again, the lenses of his domino mask narrowing warningly. "How did you bypass the shielding to bring it here?"

"What are you talking about?" Valery glared at the masked boy, one of her hands still holding onto Red's arm before she shifted her eyes to Tucker with a quirked brow.

The brothers exchanged gestures in a silent conversation that passed over Danny's head while Tucker slid back into his chair, the clacking of his rapid typing filling the now quiet room.

"Definitely not a ghost portal then." Tucker muttered. "All I got running is the guidance program."

Red Robin crossed his arms in response to a hand waved from Red and the older boy let out a tired sigh, scraping a hand through his curly two-toned bangs.

"This is bad."

"Why is it bad?" Dani was standing off to the side a confused pout on her face while she watched them.

"Wait there's something…" Tucker yelped, pulling his hands away from his crackling keyboard just as warning sirens began blaring from the speakers and the smell of smoke filled the room.

"Tucker?" Danny turned to the computer that was throwing up clouds of thick, dark smoke.

"Something just fried my systems." Tucker through his hands up helplessly.

"Red, what's going on?" Danny demanded.

"R.R, check the navi." Red said, climbing back into his ship and cocking his head for Danny to follow.

Inside, Red Robin cracked his fingers before pulling a lever. Several screens , some of them cracked extended out from all sides to surround the boy. "Back up power activated." Most of the screens flickered to live. "Navi operational." He tapped the screens without even really looking at them.

Red let out a quiet sight and moved to stand behind his brother. "Source?"

"What are you doing now?" There wasn't any room for Tucker to fit into the ship, so the geek leaned into the hatch, trying to find an angle from which he could see what was on the screens.

"Tethering the navi to local satellites." Red Robin said proudly, flinching a little at the frown Red sent him afterwards.

"You mean hacking the local satellites?" Tucker deadpanned.

Red shrugged helplessly and pulled one of the screens towards himself. "Lake Eerie." He tapped its surface a few times and turned the screen so Danny and Tucker could see the map. "That's where you'll find the sucker."

The screen glitched up and Red Robin's hands moved deliberately across his screens to quickly shut them down and pull the leaver again, returning them to their positions.

"What are those screens made off, and where can I get it?" Tucker asked Red Robin, running a hand longingly over its smooth surface.

"You got a ride? Mine's totaled" Red climbed out of the ship, Danny reluctantly leaving his friend with Red Robin to follow the other boy. His face must have shown his uncertainty, because shot him a disarming smile over his shoulder. "I'll explain on the way."

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.

.

"Okay, so it is bad." Danny said, flying alongside Red and Valery on her hover-bike.

"Told ya it's an ass." Red was tapping away on a screen filled with brightly colored glass and symbols that Danny could only begin to guess the meaning of.

It was kind of sad that if anyone told him that morning that he'd be going after an inter-dimensional monster instead of his college orientation, the only thing he'd find weird about it was that his inter-dimensional friend couldn't find a better name for his inter-dimensional ship than _'The Vehicle'_.

Danny felt a smile tugging at his lips despite the danger, and got a few covert glances at Red while they flew over the cityscape. He wished the other boy didn't have that helmet on, but when he'd suggested leaving it behind, Red had broken into a muttered tirade about head injuries before delivering a very firm no while his brother had grinned mischievously on the side lines.

That the headgear made Red look like a corny super villain didn't have much of a bearing on Red's decision.

Danny was pulled from his thoughts when he saw the huge dome of crackling pale energy blurring the lake from view. He flinched instinctively when he neared through it, expecting it to be some kind of ghost shield, but all he felt was a feint prickling sensation under his skin as they passed through.

They stopped dead when they got a look at the other side. There were brackish chips of something not quite tangible drifting through the air, lifting off the trees and grass all around them. The formerly clam lake was roiling with a huge whirlpool in the center.

"Crap." With one word Red summed up Danny's first impression of the place, and darkened his second.

"At least you've got a good story for your sister." Valery quipped as they moved on.

Danny made a sound that started out as a chuckle, but turned into chocking somewhere along the way. There were dozens of cars parked at the borders of the dome, dozens of empty parked cars.

"Signal's gone." Red cursed. "Was strongest right over there." He pointed at one of the docks.

"Not the whirlpool of death?" Danny asked, heading towards the dock, but keeping his eyes of the turbulent water.

"We don't wanna go in there." Red hopped off Valery's bike and stepped lightly over the mulchy soil at the lake's edge, he kneeled down and peered at the water. "Remember that we stayed at the haunted lake house?"

"Yeah, you worked us up with ghost stories and my parents had to save us when one actually showed up." Danny floated just above the surface of the water.

Red laughed, his shoulders shaking with the emotion as he grabbed a handful of the dirt. "I'm so freaking lucky Wing only found me after that."

"This isn't story time." Valery cut in, her arms folded severely across her chest. Both boys turned to her, Danny blinking owlishly at the interruption. "Can we just get this done?" She tilted her head away from them.

"Yeah, sorry." Red stood abruptly, bringing a handful of soil with him. "What's the word Boss?" At Danny's confused frown, Red carried on. "We going after this thing or finding our missing drivers?" He cocked his head at the abandoned cars.

"I uh." Danny spun around, looking over the deserted campground for the answer. "Man, I dunno, wouldn't they be together?"

Red shrugged, and reached his hand towards his pocket, but stopped when he caught sight of something in the soil he was holding. "I got an idea where ta look." He upturned his hand, instead of dropping right out, the soil clung, something gross and slimy keeping it attached to his glove as it slowly dripped down in sticky wet globs.

"Nasty." Valery said, her cringe apparent even with the visor covering her face. The way Red shook the stuff off his hands hinted at a similar reaction and Danny was for a second jealous that he didn't have anything hiding his disgusted expression.

Maybe there was something to the helmets after all.

"Yo, Beasty! Come the hell out to play!" Red cupped his hands uselessly in front of his mouth. Danny shot forwards and tugged his friends hands down with as deadly a glare as he could manage. Red calmly tapped a button at his temple. "Babybird, got a scan goin' for me?"

"Scanners offline." Danny could practically hear Red Robin's eye roll over the comm. "Wouldn't something that slimy need a lot of moisture?"

"May I direct your attention to the giant whirlpool?" Danny interjected, waving his arm at said unnatural phenomenon.

Instead of an answer a string of muttered curses that would have given Danny's parents an aneurism escaped from the boy and he slowly reached behind him. He didn't have to tell Danny not to move, because the shadow of something big and smelly was writhing across the ground in front of him.

The halfa took a deep, calming breath even as a huge glob of slime dripped off the creature, some of it landing in his partly open mouth.

"I'm naming it Larry." Red whispered. Just as the shadow snapped forwards, so did Red's hand. With a hiss a wire wrapped around Danny and the halfa was jerked out of the creature's path. The slimy tentacle cracked wetly as it curled around Red and snapped back away from the waterline. "Bad Larry! Go to hell on your own!"

Ant further expletives were cut short when the teen was dragged under the murky lake water. Trying to hold on to their friend got Danny and Valery the same treatment.

In his ghost form, Danny didn't need to breath, but the sheer pressure and speed at which they were pulled through the water still made him feel like he was drowning. He kept his hand wrapped around Red's ankle like a lifeline, whether for him or the other teen he wasn't sure.

What he was sure of, he decided as he was dragged through a pile of something that showed a blatant disregard for the lake's 'no dumping' rule, was that he was going to slap Red for getting them into such an unpleasant situation before they'd even had a chance to catch up.

After what felt like an eternity of fighting against his natural urge to turn intangible and get away from Larr – _the squid thing_ , they finally broke out of the water. Danny's grip faltered and he was flung into the dark cave system they'd popped up in. He rolled with the fall, an instinct born from being thrown around by dozens of huge ghosts.

The fall knocked something off in his head and he shook it as he stood, trying to make sense of the flashed of color slamming focus in front of his suddenly sensitive eyes. It took his a second to realize that the flashed were blasts from Valery, who'd landed feet from him and pulled her cannon off her back to free their friend who wasn't so lucky.

The monster still had a tight hold on Red, and was slamming the struggling teen into the cavern walls like a child with a floppy rabbit doll. It was right next to Danny that Red's helmet came into contact with stone hard enough to produce a loud ' _crack_ ' leaving spider web fractures all along one side of the glossy red surface.

Danny sprang into action, gathering up his energy into his hands, he fired off twin ghost rays at the slimy tentacle slamming his friend around. From somewhere deeper in the cave system there was a shriek and the tentacles movements became even more manic, flinging Red around even more violently.

A blast from Valery's cannon gave Red enough leeway to pull a weapon from its holster, but with a sickening crack, his free arm was crushed into the wall and went limp, his gun skidding across the uneven ground.

Danny flinched at the sight of the weapon, remembering a gunshot and screaming that years later still gave him nightmares. Red groaned at the new pain and Danny forced those thoughts aside. He gave up on blasting the other teen free and flew right up to the tentacle, digging his fingers into its disgusting, slimy skin, he poured all his strength into pulling it away from its victim.

Powerful muscles rippled under the slime seconds before Danny's fingers broke through its skin and hot liquid that smelled about as good as the months old sandwich the halfa had found under his, bed once spurted out.

It tossed Red one more time, before it retreated speedily down the tunnel. Valery shot forward in her hover-bike to catch the teen before he hit the wall again.

"Red." She gently patted the uncracked side of his helmet. "You're okay."

"No I'm not." He slurred, leaning into her hold before he let them pull him into his feet. With a grunt he tapped the side of his helmet a few times, receiving only loud static for his troubles. "This is why I wear the freaking helmet." He took a step forward and promptly fell flat on his face, rolling deeper into the sloping tunnel before Danny could grab him.

"I remember you being less… like this." Danny said, watching bemusedly as Red rolled over and closed his hand around the weapon he'd lost while muttering under his breath.

"It's how I remember him." Valery looked down at the boy with her hands on her hips for a few seconds before giving in and pulling him up again.

"Was gonna stun it, but you two grabbed on 'fore I could." He tossed the weapon the air with his good arm and caught it again. Danny diverted his eyes from the other arm that hung limply dripping a mixture of red and green at Red's feet.

Chatter echoed through the long tunnel, and all three hero's heads snapped towards the sound. "Stay here." Danny said.

Invisible and intangible he flew towards the sound, an ever-growing pinprick of light his destination. When he actually reached the lit cavern, he had to shield his eyes for a second to adjust to the sudden brightness.

A feint whirring at his back told his both Valery and Red had ended up following him, but he was all eyes for the angry swirl of brackish-red energy swirling tumultuously on one end with multiple tentacles, including the damaged one, snaking out across the cavern.

Oh, and it was also filled with dozens of terrified people.

The single whispered curse behind him summed up Danny's thoughts well enough that he didn't feel the need to add anything to it.

"We get them out first." Danny said with a glance at his teammates. He got curt nods from each of them and they all entered the cavern, making sure to keep off the ground.

Danny hovered over to one shivering family, the little girl's face lit up at his approach, but he raised one finger to his lips and jerked his head towards the portal-thing. Her eyes widened in understanding and she nodded seriously before getting her parents' attention.

They were fat less trusting, but still let Danny carry them up and out of the cavern, their only protests coming when he went intangible to get them though the ceiling. Valery and Red followed his lead, her carrying the captives on her bike while he turned the lot of them intangible.

The process was about halfway done when an old man struggled in Danny's hold. The halfa covered his mouth, but the man's kicking legs dislodged one of his sandals. The footwear dropped along with Danny's heart and fell across one of the tentacle.

Everything stopped for a second, and then the tentacles roared to life, surging towards Danny in an instant. Red leaped from the hover-bike to intercept them before they reached their intended targets.

He had his legs wrapped around the thing, his stun gun slipped out from his sleeve and he rammed the two pin pricks into its flesh. Electricity crackled up immediately across the whole thing.

"Hurry!" Red screamed, his own body seizing up with the current as well.

All need for stealth gone, Danny made a rush job of moving the last remaining campers from the cave, not pausing to look at where they ran off to once they were above ground. When he returned to the fight, it was to the sound of gunfire.

Red leaped and flipped around the cavern, dodging the creature. He landed on one of the writhing tentacles with as much grace as he would have had it been still and fires his gun into the slimy flesh at his feet.

"Boss, we gotta seal the hole!" Red yelled over his shoulder, ducking lithely under a swipe and kicking off another to escape getting wrapped up again.

Valery ran up to the swirling crimson in the wall and fired her cannon at it, getting a few shots in before the tentacles knocked her back.

"How?" Danny pulled Valery out the monster's hold, bringing her with him to the back end of the cavern. Red was tossed off a tentacle and flipped in the air, angling his body to land in front of him, his feet touched down, but he dropped to one knee, unable to balance himself with one of his arms still broken.

"I got some C4 in place, but we gotta get Larry outta the way 'fore I can use em." He fired off a few more shot's with his handgun.

Danny brought his hands to his ears in an attempt to block out the sudden loud bangs, and a sudden roar that shook the entire cavern blocked even that sound out. "Stop calling it Larry." Danny breathed, watching on in horror, as the tentacles seemed to grow further out of the hole, pulling a huge bulbous mass along with it.

The halfa gagged at the putrid odor filling his nostrils, his stomach was thankfully empty, preventing that awkward start to Red's return, but acidic bile still burned at his throat. Danny went intangible to avoid the tentacle that swiped across the cavern; catching a glance at the others he once again envied their helmets.

"Well get him outta the way then!" Valery demanded, growling at the sparking remains of the cannon she'd used to block the strike. Another swipe from the monster struck her midsection and she was flung into a wall, crumpling at its base.

With a growl, Red made it to her side, stun gun at the ready to ward off its follow up attack. He knelt by her side, shaking her shoulder, but the girl remained unresponsive.

"Crap." Red pulled a small object from behind his jacket and pulled off the top with his teeth. He tossed it at the next tentacle that approached and an ear shattering BOOM rocked the cavern, dislodging multiple pieces of the ceiling.

He creature shrieked, a huge chunk of its injured tentacle dropping to the ground with a thump as the rest retreated a little into the hole. The lump of flesh continued moving, reminding Danny of the lizards he'd played with as a child. Remembered chasing a screaming Jazz through the yard with a squiggling severed tail.

Screaming.

"Red, cover your ears!" Danny called, planting his feet steadily on the ground and bending slightly.

Red didn't question the order, nodding before reaching for the mechanism that retracted Valery's suit.

Danny took as deep a breath as he could, gathering up all the energy left in his body, then letting it out in a piercing wail. Waved of ghostly energy slammed into the creature, which added it's own sound to the cacophony as it gathered up its tentacles and disappeared inch by inch into the swirling crimson.

In one last attempt at taking one of them with it, a tentacle wrapped around Reds ankle. Before Danny could reign in his power, Red was dragged into the path of the ghostly wail. If the teen screamed, No one heard it, but the growing cracks in his glossy helmet stood out do much they may well have been audible as they spread.

A knife appeared in his hand and he sliced the tentacle, lodging the blade in rank flesh with a squelch and burst of putrid fluid. The wail died down and the last tentacle retreated into the whole as Red collapsed to the ground, his helmet shattering into a thousand tiny fragments around him.

He clicked a button at is wrist and the cavern was rocked by yet another deafening explosion while the wall around the hole was blown to bits most of the resulting debris being sucked in as the swirling red closed in on itself.

"Suck it Larry." Red brushed away the blood dripping from his ears, completely disregarding that pouring from his nose and possibly mouth.

"Yeah Larry." Danny agreed and slumped against the cave wall, his ghostly form fading away.

Red chuckled painfully and stumbled to Valery's side. He visibly relaxed when her eyes fluttered open.

"I can't believe you." Danny rolled his eyes and dragged himself over as well.

"I can't believe this cavern didn't collapse on us after all o' that." Red's easy smirk quickly dropped the cavern rumbled and he let out his favorite expletive just as the whole thing came down around them.

.

.

.

"Larry." Red Robin scoffed, winding a cast around Red's arm perhaps a little more tightly that he could have.

"Ow." Red winced, reaching for a can with his other arm. "What would you have called it?"

The rest of team Phantom hadn't been able to convince Red to get a real doctor to see to his multiple injuries, and were watching with some mild concern while he let his younger brother patch him up. Danny himself had given up after five minutes, decided that they seemed to know what they were doing, and slumped into Tucker's vacated computer chair to wait out his exhaustion.

"Cthulu." Red Robin said, calmly dousing the cut's his brother's shattering helmet had caused in alcohol, seemingly non-plussed at his pained winces.

It was a very comfortable chair, Danny decided, slumping further into the plush fabric.

"Yeah, and if we pissed the real Cthulu off doing that? I don' want Hathor coming after out caffeine riddles asses." Red tried to take a sip of his energy drink around his brother's hands.

"Cthulu doesn't exist."

The droopy eyes expression Red shot over his can only got another scoff from the younger boy.

"Well if I did, and he were we'd all be fu…" His eye's drifted over to Dani hovering nearby, "…dged."

Danny's eye's drifted closed, really comfortable chair. Would make a comfortable end to his weird dream where people argued about monster names instead of the… Danny opened his eyes just long enough to see that yes, they were pulling out the huge rock that had gotten embedded in Red's shoulder when he hadn't had enough power left to turn them all intangible in time.

The fabric of the couch practically seemed to hug him while he listened to the new string of curses Red breathed out in response to his brother's _'gentle'_ care.

His lips quirked up in a smile.

Still, it was a nice dream, to be able to see Red again was nice. He felt himself drifting off to sleep.

"Daniel James Fenton!" He refused to peel open his eyes and look at his sister looming over him, that disappointed frown undoubtedly on her face. "You'd better have a real good excuse for missing that orientation."

Across the room, Red's sudden laugh cut off into another cry of pain.

' _Nope_.' Danny tapped his foot against the ground to spin the chair away from the noise. He wasn't going to ruin such a nice dream by dealing with an overbearing Jazz.

"Geez R, I don't need that many freaking stitches."

And if it turned out he had to, he was just going to blame it all on Red. He sighed and looked up at Jazz who's turned the chair back to face her.


	3. Gator Gunk

After only a week, Danny felt safe in the assumption that college was a heck of a lot different from high school.

You'd think it'd be easier, what with the less rigid class structure and relative freedom. College was supposed to leave him with plenty time for things like ghost fighting and hanging out with his friends before classes.

A nice fantasy, but wow was reality a different matter.

The halfa yawned loudly, the sudden action pulling him out of the light doze he's slipped into before he could slide down the elevator wall he'd nearly fallen asleep against. He rubbed the itch from his eyes and tried to ignore how well the hum of the elevator was at relaxing him.

The doors slid open with a hiss, revealing the underground laboratory beneath the team HQ and a small smile worked its way onto his tired lips.

Okay, so maybe he ribbed on his college life a bit much, but most kids didn't have to deal with half the afterschool _'activities'_ as he did. Really, how many of them could say they were up all night in a spaceship-slash-submarine that could go pretty much anywhere and was also from a whole other universe?

As he made his way towards the damaged _'Vehicle'_ off on its makeshift platform, he wasn't feeling so tired anymore. In fact, he was so awake he saw the projectile flying towards him and caught it _'before'_ it could smack into his face.

It just took him a few seconds to figure out just what it was that he had caught.

"Sweet Gotham Boss, ya look like ya just crawled outta the fifth hell on zero hours of sleep." Red half whispered before taking a drink from the can at his elbow.

Danny decided not to comment on how the air inside the ship smelled like a hybrid between an energy-drink factory and a coffee machine plantation that partook of its produce way too much. Instead opting to open the colorful can in his hand and be thankful for the buzz provided by the caffeinated drink.

"And you look like you've been living there." Danny plopped down into the co-pilot seat and drank down half the can in one go.

"Nah, that'd be the Baby Bird." Red smirked wickedly, cocking his head towards the other boy curled up on the lone bed at the back of the ship. "Try bein' quiet as you can." He shook his head, his face softening to something fonder. "That kid never sleeps."

"Psh." Danny brought the can briefly to his lips again, this time taking a moment to really taste the drink before he swallowed, not bad, but not something he could see himself drinking half as much as his friend. "Look who's talking, when last did you sleep."

"Big brother card says I'm not held accountable for my own…" he yawned, stretching out his arms wide enough that he almost knocked him drink all over his fancy keyboard, "…lectures." He scratched at the back of his head as he turned to the halfa, a mischievous glint appearing and vanishing just as fast. "I'll catch some Z's in a sec, just gotta finish up here."

"You said yourself it could take forever to figure out."Danny set the last of his energy drink on a stand next to the console, running a finger lowly along the condensation collected on the sides of the can. He watched tiny droplets gather and drip, leaving bold streaks down the vivid colors printed on the metal. "Why does it even matter how you came back?"

Something in the way he said it got him Red's undivided attention for the first time since he'd entered the ship.

"Hole's don't just pop up on their lonesome Boss." Red tapped one of the circles on his screen and a spinning pinwheel appeared over the work he'd done. "Maybe Tucker's systems just messed with whoever the freak brought Larry over, but it still means some ' _genius'_ brought Larry over." He lifted his own can and finished it off. "Ima make sure they never try that crap again." He crushed the empty can suddenly; the abrupt noise enough to drag Danny back to full wakefulness.

"Just don't get all broody again." Danny kicked back on a lever, pushing his seat back as low as it would go so he could recline on the soft surface and settle in for a nap. He could practically feel Red's icy glare melting away.

Red scoffed and got back to work, the small smile he'd managed slipping ever so slightly when he read through the data again, to be replaced with a contemplative frown. Someone had a reason for dragging him and Tim back to Amity, and hoping for the best wasn't a trait anyone had ever thought to encourage in him.

.

.

.

The next day when Danny found himself dozing off in a class that he'd deliberately chosen in the hopes it would prove interesting enough to hold his attention on the days he had to practically pry his eyes open, he was kind of missing that quarter can of liquid energy he's left on the console.

His new teacher, Phillips he thought, but couldn't be absolutely sure when he hadn't been paying much attention in the class since his first day, was looming over him with a frown similar to that of another bald teacher whose class Danny had gotten the pleasure of attending in high school.

Incidentally, the resulting lecture happened to be about how he wasn't in high school anymore and had to start taking himself seriously if he wanted the education he was getting to take him anywhere.

The halfa nodded along dutifully, chipping in every few words with an apology or an assurance of his commitment to maintaining his scholarship. By the end of it, all he wanted to do was sink back in is seat and go back to sleep.

Out the corner of his eye a shimmering snake slithered along the ground, he watched it pass, kind of hoping he was imagining it because his teacher was still staring him down and he really didn't want to be stuck on that guys bad side so early into his college life.

The snake slithered out a window without causing any trouble. The others could handle one little snake if it started any trouble, couldn't they? It was the whole reason they had a team after all.

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.

.

"This is the place." Tucker snapped shut the cover of his tracker and out the device away.

Sam knelt down beside the open manhole, peering into the darkness below with a bemused frown and he could guess her hidden eyes were likely twitching.

"We couldn't have let Danny or 'Valery' handle this one?" She stood, brushing the loose gravel onto her plaid purple skirt.

"They have class." The geek shrugged. "Come on, we'll deal with it quick n easy."

"Red likes the dark, doesn't he?" Sam shot a withering look at the crowds gathered a little ways off, watching curiously as the people they were supposed to trust with guarding their city from ghost's meandered around the manhole the ghost snake had dropped into.

"Red hates the dark."

Tucker bit back a yelp as he spun to the source of the voice, one hand clutched to his rapidly beating chest. "What is wrong with you!" He spoke around the hand covering his mouth.

"Sorry." Red's brother smiled sheepishly, adjusting the straps of a compact camera

"What are you doing here?" Sam demanded, her voice just high enough that Tucker knew she'd been caught off guard by the sudden arrival as well.

"Red Huntress said there was a ghost gator in the sewers." The kid curled his hands into claws and wiggled them menacingly near his chest. He looked between them for reaction, hands dropping back to his camera with a noncommittal shrug. "Red thinks it'll be an experience."

"A gator too?" Tucker pulled off his hat to scrub the scratchy material over his face. "Man, I was iffy on the snake."

"I'm still iffy on the sewer itself." Sam said, her violet tinted lips pressing into a thin line while she studied the younger boy who was wearing the same suit they'd last seen Red in. "But we'll have to handle it anyway. Is your brother going to show up too?"

"He thought he'd experience it on his own." The kid almost sighed out the words as he peered down the manhole. "And then his comm died."

"Oh." Tucker eyed the entrance to the sewers a little more warily than he had before, a shiver working its way down his back. "Maybe we should get Phantom down here."

"No time." The kid took a breath and muttered something they couldn't hear before squaring his shoulders and dropping down the hole.

The darkness almost seemed to swallow then boy up, leaving Sam and Tucker holding their breaths until the bright beam of a flashlight lit up the confined space below.

And because they were supposed to be the trained ghost hunter and could leave there friend's younger brother to wonder the sewers of all things alone, Sam and Tucker went after him, albeit descending by the rusty iron rungs in the wall.

"So what do we call you?" Tucker asked, as he and Sam picked up the pace, putting themselves a few steps ahead of the boy. "Red Robin's kind of a mouthful." … among other things.

"RR's fine." The boy said, his light voice carrying a hint of steel.

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.

.

Okay so wandering the unfamiliar sewers on his own in search of a glowing monster hadn't been his beast idea. In fact the only worse idea he'd had since… heck he'd actually followed through on a lot of ideas that had been a lot worse, but that didn't make the less bad ideas any better.

Still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been if he'd agreed to wait for Valery to finish her shift so they could investigate together. Tim was available for backup, and he'd lost his comm a while ago which would have tipped the baby bird off. Kid was smart enough not to come alone.

Jason tried his best to ignore the clump of _'something'_ dribbling out of his mouth. Coming out when was so sleep deprived he could barely walk straight? Maybe the worst of all those freaking ideas.

"Freaking snakes." Jason gave up on pretending and spat out the wad of glowy, coppery mush that had worked its way up his throat.

Six eyed snakes that jumped down his throat for hell-in-an-alley knew why was yet another classic example of why he hated animals. And to think over the past four years he'd almost forgotten that, petted a few cats and everything. Freaking tings must have sensed his weakness the second he'd been dragged back to Amity.

Dumb thing had been bitten in half for it's troubles, but going on how fast he'd seen the other half regenerate, he wasn't counting that as a total win just yet. He hunched over, gagging on another clump of half digested snake ghost that came up along with the last of his breakfast chips.

"Great." He wiped the gunk from his mouth and tried again to phase the stuff through him, only to be reminded yet again that he couldn't do that.

Maybe Bruce had a point when he said Jason was getting to reliant on his powers.

The teen looked between his dirty sleeve and the rushing sewer water rushing past his knees, debating for a second which would be worse. A dead rat floated by, it's bloated body drifting past him and well out off range off the bat logo that lit up the front of his hoody, still he watched the darkness it had disappeared into, his face twisted into a grimace so wide it hurt.

One lingering look at his sleeve later and he decided the gunk was the lesser of two evil.

Didn't stop him from muttering a long string of the curses he only felt safe using an entire universe away from Alfred's stiff upper lip.

When he'd almost run out of the little energy he had reserved exclusively for expletives he listened to the sloshing of the filthy water, resisting the urge to find out what it was that his hair was encrusted with, it smelled bad enough without him having to look at it.

Mentally he added absurdly spacious sewers to his ever-growing list of places that were always bad news, he settled it just a few spaces below carnivals and wherever that freak Indigo had come from.

"Indigo." He muttered, before the urge to gag overrode any other thoughts.

Sweet Gotham he'd have done anything to get that taste out of his mouth. He forwent wiping his mouth with his sleeve again and tried to spit out any lingering traces of the gunk. Taking a few paranoid moments to listen for any approaching witnesses he stopped moving, his fingers reached for a small waterproof pocket concealed within the one sleeve he hadn't fouled up.

Heh, or was it fowled up?

No, she shook his head frantically to dislodge the thought, he'd grown past the point of making horrible puns. He ripped out the contents of the pocket and stuck it in his mouth, feeling in his belt for one of the flared Bruce would kill him for using improperly.

He had to shield his eyes from the bright flash if light it caused, but a second later it was worth it. The smell of smoke filled the air and he almost couldn't taste the acidic gunk. One good point to being alone miles and miles below ground he supposed.

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.

.

Sam was hardly sure she'd seen the flash of light, focused as he was on the kid snapping pictures of everything and anything. It would have been put off as just another flicker of his camera of it hadn't burned on for a few seconds before fading out.

"Can ghosts breathe fire?" RR asked, not looking particularly worried, he was looking towards the source of the light while sliding a new screen into his camera.

"Some of them." Tucker took a nervous step back, raising his scanner partly to check its reading, but mostly as a flimsy shield. "There's a small ecto-signature down there."

Sam planted her legs firmly on the ground and brushed her bare fingertips along some select shards on her bracelet.

One by one three puffs of ghostly light no bigger than her palm, popped into existence, the tiny sparks of energy that were their eyes fixed on the piece of jewelry intently until she flicked her fingers and two of them sped down the tunnel.

They were out of sight in seconds having curved around a corner some ways ahead. The last one tucked itself into the crook of her neck, partly concealing itself in her hair.

RR was watching her with an unreadable frown that went unnoticed by Tucker, who was still looking at the screen of his scanner, now tracking the process of her light ghosts. The kid's hands were moving long his camera, but she could tell he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing.

Just when she was about to make him ask whatever it was he wanted to ask a loud curse boomed from around the tunnel bend, echoing through the narrow area. The frantic crackling of her ghosts followed soon after as both of them shot back into sight, barreling into her seconds later.

They lacked the substance to put much weight into their flight, but the shock itself was enough to push her a step back as they joined the one on her shoulder.

She and RR sped towards the sound shout, Tucker following a little behind.

"Red!" RR half shouted just before she caught sight of his brother.

The bat on his chest lit up the tunnel with a dim bluish light that almost, but didn't quite block out the glowing red of the ember that dropped from his mouth into the sewage water that crawled sluggishly past his ankles.

"'Sup." Red sheepishly raised one hand in greeting, and Sam squinted, what was that on his sleeve?

"Did you find the ghost gator?" RR asked before any of the others could return the greeting.

"Yeah, it kinda got…" He trailed off, looking instead at the little ghosts shivering against Sam's hair. His eyes narrowed threateningly at them, but the look softened almost before he'd even focused it properly. "Those yours?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Sometimes." Sam answered honestly, holding up one finger for the smallest of the trio to flutter around before turning up her palm for it to hover contently, it's pinprick eyes turning into tiny lines.

"They're uh… cute." Red settled on after a moment, pulling his hood up to cover most of his face while turning away from her.

RR sharply jabbed his elbow into his brother's side and Red returned the gesture with a light slap to the back of the younger boy's head.

"So you guys after that scaly reptilian freak of…" Red turned away and doubled over quickly, both arms wrapped around his midsection.

"Man, what happened to you?" Tucker asked, stepping forward with one arm reaching out like he thought Red would fall over.

"Freaking snake that didn't get the memo it wasn't edible." Red spat up something that shimmered faintly.

"Wouldn't be the worst thing you've shoved down your throat without looking." Tim said, snapping a picture of the stuff that splattered along the wall.

"The last time I was hungry enough to eat a live snake was before your time smartass." Red retorted, more amused than angry.

"It wasn't alive." RR shrugged. "I mean technically." At his brother's glare the boy took one step away, moving subtly behind Sam and holding up his hands in mock surrender. "Food ' _can'_ be an addiction so no judging."

"Shut up Babybird."

"Sorry Jaybird."

"There's one person that can get away with that and it's not you!" Red swept his foot through the water, splashing soaking his brother in a gallon on the filthy liquid.

"Can the sibling rivalry kill you too after the rest of us are out of the death sewer!" Tucker threw up his hands, glaring at the brothers reproachfully.

A loud roar that shook up the entire tunnel rendered Red's splashing null when it violently churned up the water at their feet saved them from making a reply.

All but one of Sam's ghosts flickered back to the Ghost Zone, she tapped the brave little guy affectionately, sending it back there herself. No need to risk them when there was already ample light to see the huge glowing mass rushing at them.

The team stood ready to face it for the second it took for the things size and their lack of equipment to sink in. Then RR calmly raised his camera, eyes not leaving the ghost gator that took up literally the entire circumference of the tunnel until he reached around to glance at the slip of paper that took forever to slide of the device.

All four of them were halfway down the tunnel before he'd even finished shaking out the picture.

The ghosts heavy footfalls bounced them off the ground with every step.

"What's the plan here?!" Red dragged his brother away from a wave of water that was thrown up by a swish of the ghosts clawed foot. He groaned in frustration at the silence that followed, tugging harshly at his bangs, heedless of the greenish stuff in his hair. "You guys came down here without a plan?!"

"We were after the snake!" Tucker almost shrieked, batting away a dead rat that had struck his chest. "You're the one that took on the gator alone!"

"That was be-freaking-fore my lunch ate my damn powers!" Red's face suddenly turned green again and he almost stopped running to gag again.

"I'm telling B to up your daily routine again!" RR was practically dragging his brother along for the time it took Red to right himself. "You're not supposed to rely on your powers like that!"

"I KNOW!" Red almost looked like he was choking back a sob. "You tell him about this and I'll freaking murder you!"

"That things gonna murder us fiIIIRST…!" Tuckers frantic voice turned into a scream falling with the rest of them when they were all run over a sharp drop.

What were sewage pipes even coming out do far above ground? Sam brushed her bracelet again, while the brothers shot out their lines, Red grabbing hold of Tucker and swinging them both down to the muddy swamp ground below while a large disk shaped ghost lowered Sam down before fading away and RR swung down a second later.

Red leaned over, bracing his hands on his knees while a string of inventive curses involving crowbars erupted steadily from his mouth for a few seconds, and cut off as soon as Sam cleared her throat.

They'd ended up in a swamp, one Sam wasn't sure she'd ever been to before, but had to have been close to the city limits. She looked up at the tiny bit of sunlight breaking through and breathed in the putrid smell of methane and sulfur. Anything was better than those sewers.

The quartet reveled in the little time of silence they hand before the gator followed them over the edge with another loud roar and they were running again.

"If I didn't think it'd spread too fast I'd break out my leftover C4." Red shot a hasty look back at the ghost.

"It's always explosions with you!" RR took some disks from the round symbol at his chest and puns around, tossing them at the ghost before landing lightly back on his feet to keep running while the cracking of electricity and the ghost's cries followed.

"Bombs bad." Tucker was on the verge of collapsing, having gotten as much exercise that day as he usually got in a week. Being the tech guy, he dint often do the actual chasing after ghosts thing, and he was really regretting not calling Danny right then.

"Then what?" It was Red's turn to toss a barrage of knives that the thing. Sam didn't see them hit their mark, but he sound was enough proof. Then Red flicked a button on his wrist and the knives returned to his hands, covered in little bits of ghost flesh.

"There's too much water for…" Tuckers legs gave out but he was caught and dragged by Red behind a tight clump of trees before he could hit the ground. The others all piled into the small space after them while Tucker stared at the knives. "Give me that!" He demanded grabbing a blade out of Red's hand.

The other boy made no complaint, pulling out a pair of hand guns from the holsters at his back hidden under is hoody, he leaped out of the cover, rolling under the gators tail, stopping in a crouch he shot at the thing, most of his shimmering bullets bouncing harmlessly off its scales.

"Hurry up!" Red cried, leaping away from a claw that almost scraped at his arm. "This freaking blows." He said mostly to himself.

One of Sam's hands flew to her mouth at the sight of the guns and she backed further into the small space. Tucker very pointedly did not look up from where he was working. "Sam, pass me the blossom essence." He held out a hand.

Sam barely heard him, her hands moving to the small vial of the bright red substance she kept on her at all times. It wasn't a much, but the tiny amount was the most she could have without scaring off the weaker ghosts she actually wanted near her.

Tucker, impatient with her slow process almost tore it out of her hand to cover the knives, muttering under his breath even as RR provided some other weapon for him to use. They discussed their plan in hurried tone, but all Sam heard were gun shots while a man begged for his life and Richard bled out in the hospital.

Red, was thrown back into sight for just a second, he landed in a crouch in front of their hiding place, his hood hiding most of his face from view. She could almost feel her heart stop when he turned to say something to them and leaped out of sight again.

"The hell is taking so long?" She couldn't see him anymore, just heard his voice from where he was yelling things to keep the ghosts attention on him.

Them RR tossed something towards his brother, a slick metallic line connecting the object to something the younger boy kept hold of. The line went tight and RR tossed his end as well, pulling the line in an arc around the huge ghost.

It roared again and swished out its tail, knocking Red high into the air. RR and Tucker ran out to catch him, but the ghost blocked them.

Still screeching in pain from the blood blossoms it stretched against the line wrapped around it, letting the line cut through its own flesh in its haste to free itself. Even as massive limbs dropped to the ground, splashing up murky water, new ones grew from the stumps of the old.

Red was choking, spitting up more of the shimmering blue snake where he lay crumpled on the ground, blood and mud trailing down his face, sticking inky locks of hair to his forehead. When he looked up again his eyes were a watery teal blue.

The enraged ghost gator charged at him, hitting the teen into the air with a swish of its tail, massive jaws closed on him before he could hit the ground. Time seemed to stop where there was still a tiny gap in the ghost's mouth, one of Red's limp hands peeking out between teeth as long as Sam's arm.

Then RR shoved something between its jaws and with a click a staff had extended, forcing its jaws open. Without thinking about it Sam's fingers brushed along her bracelet, not even caring what it was she called to their aid.

A dim fragment lit up and a lithe ghost shot out of the nearest tunnel. Pale blue scales shimmering against the sickly green of the gator. With a hiss, the six-eyed snake sank its teeth into the larger ghost; it grew brighter while light drained out of the gator.

The snake tried for a second to break away from its target, but Sam refused, clutching her bracelet close to her chest she focused intently on the smaller ghost while Tucker ran around the larger in circles, wrapping it in the cable again.

RR scrambled up the side of the ghost gator and reached within its maw for his brother, drooping something else down its throat, he gripped Red in one arm and his staff in the other before kicking off against its teeth to dislodge the weapon and send them tumbling back to the ground.

Without turning her will away from the snake, Sam brushed another shard and the flat disk ghost appeared in a puff of green to catch the brothers, carrying them away from the thrashing beast.

Pale blue grew even brighter, now lighting up the entire cavern with its iridescence and the gator's aura was so far gone it was barely distinguishable. It roared again this time wresting control of snake away from her and forcefully taking back its energy.

Too bad for the gator ghost the snake was so ready to give the energy back that it let go all at once. The sudden influx bloated the gator, splitting apart its scales. Soon, what had once been a passable imitation of a giant alligator was just a ball of ecto-energy.

Very unstable ecto-energy.

She yelled for Tucker to take cover, but they'd moved too far out from their cover and there was nowhere for them to run when the large ghost exploded, knocking them all off their feet and splattering them with something that smelled even worse than the sewers and the swamp combined.

The blue snake slithered smoothly through the gunk, wrapping itself slowly around her arm and resting its head on her shoulder, peering up at her with all six of its eyes. She tapped its head once, her mind not yet fully out of its daze as she drew it into the box shaped containment device hooked to her belt.

Hushed voices followed by a loud slap drew her attention and she got to her feet, hurrying to a metallic structure in the ground where RR crouched over Red, discarded a few feet away from them was an empty syringe with traces of a luminescent green substance at the end.

They both looked up when they saw her approaching and Tucker appeared from the other side. Red rubbed away the muddy handprint on his cheek, shooting a scathing frown at his brother, but neither of them said anything.

RR handed pushed Red's guns towards him, but the older brother had to get to his knees to reach the weapons. Sam noticed there were white streaks in his hear again, but the slump of his shoulders and the greenish flush to his cheeks gave away that he wasn't over the effects of the snake just yet.

Sam flinched back when he lifted his guns, and his red ringed blue eyes shot to her so fast they might have been bullets themselves. He tucked the guns back away and pulled himself up.

"If the Boss asks that fight was epic, and we did not get covered in gator gunk."

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.

.

"And this is Red throwing up all over the ghost gator." Tim proudly held up the picture for all to see. It was a little blurry sure, but still way more focused that it should have been for the chaotic circumstances under which it had been taken.

Dani in particular was enthralled by Tim's mini gallery of the day's misadventures. Valery glared sourly at Jason with almost every shot of him and Danny seemed equal parts amused and exasperated.

Easy for them, Jason scoffed to himself as he swished the strongest tasting brand of energy drink he had around his mouth; they weren't still coughing up pieces of ghost snake. The taste still lingered and he glared at the can of fizzy caffeine that couldn't even fix that one annoyance in his life.

Tim showed them a picture of gator exploding that he must of ripped from his masks recording files and Jason suddenly wished he had something a little stronger.

Would take the edge off where Tim had jabbed him in the neck with that ectoplasm injection. Even as he rubbed at the sore spot he had to agree with his brother that yes, he'd wholly deserved that one a deserved to feel suffer from it until it went away on his own.

Didn't mean he had to enjoy it, as contrary to what his family thought, he wasn't a masochist.

At least he was clean and dry, and definitely getting a solid eight hours of sleep before he did anything like that again. Tim held up another picture, this one from higher up that any of the others while he proclaimed Jason hanging onto a cable 'Lord of the Jungle'. Okay that one was pretty funny, Jason chuckled then got a look at the intricate pattern of a metal frame encroaching on the corner of the picture.

And of course Tim had to whip out a picture of them all covered in the gator gunk, because how could the little troll not?

Jason groaned along with Sam and Tucker and finished off his energy drink. Even with the added caffeine in his system, he was more than ready for bed. Just one more thing he had to do first.

He dropped his weapons into a compartment under ' _the Vehicle's'_ control panel and sank into his chair, wishing for nothing more in that moment that he could merge with the plush surface and never have to get up despite knowing he was going to wake up with some kind of back pain.

Making a mental note that he wouldn't remember the next day to go apartment hunting as soon as possible, he let his mind fully relax for the first time since he'd wound up back in Amity.


End file.
